Strong rice harvest

I didn’t always want to be a journalist. In fact, when I was younger my dream was to be an archaeologist – who wouldn’t want to be like Indiana Jones? However, now that I am a journalist, I couldn’t imagine doing anything else with my life.
I love listening to people’s stories and sharing them with others.
I’m a Queenslander through and though. Mackay is the furthest south I have ever lived. I’m an only child and I was raised in Airlie Beach.
My parents are former boaties; we lived on a 42 foot...

Sunrice Grower Services North Queensland business development and agronomy manager Rob Eccles said that was "a very good crop for a first time grower".

That equated to about six and a half tonnes per hectare being all profit, he said.

"At that tonnage, it would compete with any option available for the growers," Mr Eccles said.

It had been 12 months since the first rice crop was planted at Homebush in the Mackay district.

In that time farmer interest in rice as a rotation crop had strengthened, Mr Eccles said.

There were about 12 rice growers in Mackay and up to 25 in the Mackay/Whitsunday regions.

There was a lot of curiosity with many farmers "sitting on the fence at the moment watching", he said.

"We see rice fitting in with the cane growing cycle."

The aim wasn't to take away from sugar cane production.

"We're aiming to grow the rice in that rotation crop between cane crops, in that fallow area," Mr Eccles said.

There should be a fallow break between replanting cane in an old cane paddock. While farmers had the choice of having a bare fallow, it exposed the soil to issues such as erosion, he said.

Farmers could have a "green fallow" and "have a cash crop" to earn money in between planting cane, he said. "Rice is the only alternate rotation crop that looks reliably possible for a cane farmer."

It wasn't good for the soil's health to have a bare fallow for too long, he added.

Mr Eccles said he anticipated improvement in soil health in having a rice rotation, which could lead to increased cane yields.

Rice had two growing seasons. "We've got summer/wet, which is planted in January and harvested late April/May. And spring/dry, which is sown about August and harvested about December/January," Mr Eccles said.

"It was a very fast crop. The summer crop took about 110 days, while the winter one was about 125," he said.